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Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Not a blog, but a blog-related program activity

It appears that Saddam did not possess weapons of mass destruction, and may not have had a weapons program, but was nonetheless engaged in “weapons of mass destruction-related program activities.” Or that he had seen people doing things that appeared, from a distance, to be related to weapons of mass destruction-related program activities.  Or that he had been apprised of the possibility of creating weapons-of-near-mass-quasi- destruction-related program activities.

I miss the days of moral clarity--

“Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.”
Dick Cheney
Speech to VFW National Convention
August 26, 2002
Simply stated.  As opposed, say, to “weapons of mass destruction-related program activities.”

“Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.”
George W. Bush
State of the Union Address
January 28, 2003
Or as little as, um, zero tons.  We’re not sure.

“We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more.”
Colin Powell
Remarks to UN Security Council
February 5, 2003
Or we might have misheard him.  Hard to say-- he was in his bunker and his cell phone kept cutting out.

“We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons—the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have.”
George W. Bush
Radio Address
February 8, 2003
One of them, Laurie Mylroie, has also informed us that Saddam masterminded the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center and may have been involved in the mysterious death of Bruce Lee twenty years earlier.

“Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.”
George W. Bush
Address to the Nation
March 17, 2003
Leave no doubt behind!

“I have no doubt we’re going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction.”
Defense Policy Board member Kenneth Adelman
Washington Post, p. A27
March 23, 2003
And you can trust me, because, after all, I’m the guy who argued that you could survive a nuclear attack by covering yourself with dirt.

“We know where they are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.”
Donald Rumsfeld
ABC Interview
March 30, 2003
Also they may be up or down.  But right around here.  Did you look over there?  East, I mean.  No, a little further west, or south.  Right there.  No, colder.  Try south again.  Or north.

“Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find—and there will be plenty.”
Robert Kagan
Washington Post op-ed
April 9, 2003
Unless the administration is reduced to doubletalk about weapons of mass destruction-related program activities.  But that will never happen, I assure you.  If you look at my author’s photo, you’ll find that I have a steely glare.  That comes from looking reality in the face without blinking, my friend.

“I’m absolutely sure that there are weapons of mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming. We’re just getting it just now.”
Colin Powell
Remarks to Reporters
May 4, 2003
Secretary Powell then said, “hold on, the evidence is almost here-- I just have to put it in a box for you.  I’ll be right back.” Secretary Powell has not been seen since.

And though I shouldn’t have to add this:  yes, of course, I’m glad Saddam Hussein is in custody.  He’s a mass murderer and war criminal of exceptional viciousness and cruelty, even when matched with some of the twentieth century’s worst; I thought so when Rumsfeld shook hands with him twenty years ago, and I think so now.  But if only Bush and company hadn’t lied so sloppily and so egregiously for two solid years, alienating just about everyone who had come to our aid after September 11, we could have ousted Saddam with the help of the UN or NATO; we could have legitimately spread the burden of rebuilding Iraq among a host of allies, instead of insulting them on Monday, barring them from contracts on Tuesday, and then asking for their assistance on Wednesday; and we could have avoided embarrassing and undermining our intelligence agencies so thoroughly.  It doesn’t seem too much to ask.

Update: A tip of the hat to Eric Alterman, who was clearly thinking along the same lines yesterday, while I was teaching. . . .

Posted by Michael on 01/21 at 03:51 PM
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